Egypt’s Morsi on trial for ‘communicating with Hamas’

Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi was in court on charges of “communication with Hamas”.

In a session at the Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Counsellor Mohammed Shirin Fahmi, the prosecution had charged Morsi and a number of others with crimes including communicating with foreign organisations outside the country in order to commit terrorist acts in the country, disclosing defence secrets to a foreign state and those working for its interests, financing terrorism, military training to achieve the purposes of the Muslim Brotherhood, and committing acts that undermine the country’s independence, unity and territorial integrity.

Morsi has been on trial in a number of cases since his ouster in a military coup in 2013. Human rights groups have repeatedly lambasted the Egyptian government for its treatment of the former president and other political prisoners who they say are being held on trumped up charges.